Contact bodies for liquid and gas



July 26, 1966 s. J. H. BREDBERG CONTACT BODIES FOR LIQUID AND GAS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 25, 1963 M RQQ L l* mw m 0. u 2.

u 2 5 ...w Ul 2 3 3 July 26, 1966 s. J. H. BREDBERG CONTACT BODIES FOR LIQUID AND GAS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 25, 1963 United States Patent O 3,262,682 CONTACT BODIES FOR LIQUID AND Sven J. H. Bredberg, Trollbacken, Sweden, assignor to Carl Munters & Co., Stocksund, Sweden Filed June 25, 1963, Ser. No. 290,422 Claims priority, application Sweden, June 27, 1962, 7,156/62 4 Claims. (Cl. 261-29) This invention relates to Contact bodies for liquid and g More particularly, this invention relates to a contact body for liquid and gas whichis composed of layers or sheets made with folds between which channels or passageways penetrating through the body are formed. The two fluids are caused to act upon one another during their passage through the channels, such action being performed preferably but not necessarily under cross flow.

Said actuation may consist in the moistening of an air stream by means of water while simultaneously cooling said yair stream. Another field of application of the invention is constituted by cooling towers containing a contact tbody or packing in which a liquid, preferably water, is cooled yby -a small portion thereof being allowed to evaporate into a gaseous fluid, preferably air.

One main object of the invention is to provide a contact body which keeps a high yield of exchange between the two fluids. y

Another object of the invention is to provide an economy saving in sheet material for a predetermined effect of the Contact body.

A substantial advantage resides in the feature that the contact body can be constructed 'as a stationary structure while satisfying high demands regarding compactness and top efficiency.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification and of which:

FIG. l is a vertical longitudinal section following line I-I -of FIG. 2 through an apparatus constructed accord` ing to the invention for the moistening of air; FIG. 2 is a cross-section along line II-II of FIGURE 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portion of a contact body;

FIG. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section through a cooling tower containing a packing made according to the invention; and

FIG. 5 is also a vertical longitudinal section through a modified embodiment of a cooling `tower of the type in consideration.

In the various figures, the same reference numerals have been used for equivalent parts.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-3, a contact body denoted by is enclosed within a casing 12 formed at its bottom to constitute a water collector 14. The casing has an intake 16 and an exhaust 18 for the air to be moistened or cooled, respectively.

The contact body 10 consists'of thin layers or sheets which preferably all are folded or corrugated and which are disposed vertically. The corrugations extend at an oblique angle, such as 45 relative to the horizontal plane. Every second layer has its corrugations 20 positioned obliquely in one direction and every second layer has its corrugations 22 extending in the other direction. In this way there are obtained over the whole front face of the contact body channels penetrating through said body from the Contact places between the layers to the double height of the corrugations. The height of the corrugations may ICC amount to l-7 millimeters, and even more. Also in the vertical direction between an upper spreader member 26 and the lower water collector 14, channels penetrating through the entire contact body are formed, said channels in the same manner having a constantly varying width. The channels in both the horizontal and the vertical directions have la serpentine-like shape. Each drop of liquid falling down from the spreader member 26 will thus abut against a layer in the upper part of a body.

Preferably, the layers are liquid or water absorbing. They m-ay to particular advantage be made of sheets of fibres of cellulose or inorganic material, such as asbestos. Paper sheets or organic or inorganic kind are imparted required mechanical strength in wet condition by impregnation with substance suited therefor, such as a resin, for example a phenolic aldehyde resin. The sheets are interconnected at the places of contact by means of such a resin, for example. The layers may also be subjected to a treatment of the kind set forth in the co-pending patent application Serial No. 254,131, filed January 28, 1963, by Carl Georg Munters,

The water is caused to circulate between the spreader member 26 and the collector 14 by means of a pump 30 provided in a conduit 28. Fresh water is supplied through a pipe 32 co-operat'mg with a valve 36 commanded by a oat 34. Through a pipe 38 provided with a valve 40 water may be drained olf to keep the content of salts accompanying the water at a low level, said content increasing to the same degree as the evaporation of the circulating water quantity is continued and thus being able to attain undesirable high values.

During operation of the apparatus, the two fluids pass through the contact body 10 in a cross-flow which means that the main flow direction 24 of the air is horizontal and the main ow direction 38 of the water is vertical. The

,air is subjected to a constant change of movement of Adirection due to the shape of the channels and the Vortex motion created thereby has a favourable effect on the desired Contact between the air and the Water. The latter is absorbed -by the layers and spread over the whole layer .surface of the contact body. This effect isincreased by the corrugations 20, 22 extending at dilferent directions. Simultaneously with its downward flow the water follows the ridges of the obliquely positioned corrugations and is thereby distributed in au outward direction toward the lateral faces of the contact body.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4 is shown applied to a cooling tower, the casing 62 of which may have opposite intakes for the air as indicated by the arrows 64, 66. In spaced relation from one another two contact bodies 68 of the structure described are disposed. Water is supplied to them at the top face by means of spreading devices 26. Towards the bottom the casing 62 forms a collector 14 for water, the level of which is kept ata predetermined level by supply of fresh water controlled by the float 34 in a similar manner as in the embodiment shown in FIGS. l to 3. Air may be sucked through both contact bodies 68 by means of a common fan 70 rotated by a motor 72. The moist, consumed air escapes through anoutlet 74. The cooled water is passed through a pipe 76 provided with a pump 78 to the place of use in order thereupon to be recirculated to the spreading device 26 in known manner.

The cooling tower illustrated in FIG. 5 has two contact bodies 80, 82 arranged in series one behind the other. The water is caused to be fed through a pipe 88 Iand a spreading member 92 initially to the contact body 82 which is the last to be passed by the a-ir flowing in the direction indicated by the arrow 24. The Water is Icooled in the contact body 82 during its downward flow through said body and is vcollected in a collector 94. Therefrom the water is conducted through a pipe 91 and by means of a pump 90 to a spreading member S4 arranged at the top lface of the second contact lbody 80. During its downward passage through said contact body the water is subjected to a further `cooling and lis iinally Withdrawn from t-he base collector 86 through the pipe 76 and the pump 78. Thus the liquid or water may be brought more than one time into contact with the gaseous iluid or the air by means of the coupling in series of a plurality of contact bodies. Thereby the yield is improved in a direction towards the result obtainable by a ilow of the fluids in pure counterilow.

For simplicity the spreading members 26 and 84, 92, respectively, have been illustrated in the gures as stationary with escape openings distributing the water over the whole top face area of the contact bodies. It is desirable to supply ample water to ensure perfect rinsing Y come dry. In embodiments for use in practice, the pump of the spreading member may operate intermittently and possibly so as to supply water alternately to different sections of the spreading member. Another expedient is to arrange several contact bodies adjacent one another, which intermittently and at various instants are supplied with Water. Rotating spreading members or members movable in some other manner meet the same demand.

The lower portion of the contact body may in some cases be made with plane foils or sheets the planes of which coincide with the direction of flow of the gas and which are kept in position by means of spacer members. Each second sheet between the corrugated sheets may be plane, said plane sheet being perforated or having the form of a network to provide openings for the ways of flow of the fluids crossing one another laterally of the corrugated sheets. All sheets may be disposed with their folds extending horizontally in which case, however, lparticular spacer members become necessary. The folds may have serpentine shape. The uids may pass through the `contact body in the same direction, such as vertically and possibly in a counterstream While several more or less specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it is to be understood that is is Vfor purpose of illustration only, and

that the invention is not to be limited thereby, but its scope is to be determined by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A gas-liquid contact device comprising: means mounting a plurality of facially-opposed corrugated sheets of material disposed in a substantially vertical, parallel relationship, `said material having a surface over which said liquid is readily spreadable, all of the corrugations in each of the sheets being disposed at an angle to the horizontal, and each of the corrugations extending continuously on substantially straight lines from one edge of the sheets to `another edge thereof, with the corrugations in alternate sheets crossing the corrugations in the sheets disposed between the alternate sheets, the corrugations adjacent the upper ends of said sheets being open at such upper ends, means to supply liquid into such corrugations at said upper ends, and means to pass a current of gas into the KVcorrugations at one edge of said sheets.

2. A contact device according to claim 1, in which the sheets are composed of asbestos paper.

3. A contact device according to claim 1, wherein the corrugations in the alternate sheets are disposed at an inclination in one direction and the corrugations in the intervening sheets are disposed at an angle in the opposite direction. A

`4. A contact device according to claim 3, wherein the sheets are united at the apices of their corrugations and at their angular points of crossing.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,519,739 12/1924 Mark 261-112 X 1,929,411 10/1933 Coey 261-112 1,987,798 1/1935 Ruppricht 161-137 X 2,306,192 12/1942 Spiselman.

2,429,265 10/ 1947 Pleisher 261-97 X 2,971,750 2/1961 Bolin-g 261-140 X 3,155,153 1l/1964 Axelsson 165-10 OTHER REFERENCES German printed application No. 1,058,077, May 27, 1959.

German printed application No. 1,115,750, Oct. 26, 19.61.

HARRY B. THORNTON, Primary Examiner.

T. R. MILES, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A GAS-LIQUID CONTACT DEVICE COMPRISING: MEANS MOUNTING A PLURALITY OF FACIALLY-OPPOSED CORRUGATED SHEETS OF MATERIAL DISPOSED IN A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL, PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP, SAID MATERIAL HAVING A SURFACE OVER WHICH SAID LIQUID IS READILY SPREADABLE, ALL OF THE CORRUGATIONS IN EACH OF THE SHEETS BEING DISPOSED AT AN ANGLE TO THE HORIZONTAL, AND EACH OF THE CORRUGATIONS EXTENDING CONTINUOUSLY ON SUBSTANTIALLY STRAIGHT LINES FROM ONE EDGE OF THE SHEET TO ANOTHER EDGE THEREOF, WITH THE CORRUGATIONS IN ALTERNATE SHEETS CROSSING THR CORRUGATIONS IN THE SHEET DISPOSED BETWEEN THE ALTERNATE SHEETS THE CORRUGATIONS ADJACENT THE UPPER ENDS OF SAID SHEETS BEING OPEN IN SUCH UPPER ENDS, MEANS TO SUPPLY LIQUID INTO SUCH CORRUGATIONS AT SAID UPPER ENDS, AND MEANS TO PASS A CURRENT OF GAS INTO THE CORRUGATIONS AT ONE EDGE OF SAID SHEETS. 